Davis vows to create an ‘open presidency’
Speaking at the official launch of her campaign in Dublin yesterday, Ms Davis accused the party of “reverting to type” by engaging in the kind of “negative campaigning that has made the Irish people so cynical about politics”.
It was recently reported that a consulting company with links to Fine Gael had been road-testing negative messages about Ms Davis — such as that she had been appointed to state boards by Bertie Ahern.
“Paying a lot of money to polling companies to hone attack messages is not what this campaign should be about,” Ms Davis said.
“Paying money to polling companies may serve the partisan aims of a political party but it does not serve the cause of debate about our future.”
Ms Davis said she knew she could deal with negative stories for one reason — “I have nothing to hide”.
She pointed to the fact that she had already provided the media with details of her income and board appointments.
She insisted she had nothing to do with the granting of a lucrative PR contract to her husband’s company and denied any suggestions of “cronyism”.
Ms Davis confirmed both she and her husband Julian were on the board of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland at a time when the organisation awarded the contract to Fleishman Hillard, of which he is a director.
But she said: “We had absolutely nothing to do with the awarding of contracts in public relations and communications, or in any other area.”
Ms Davis said she would have stood aside if there had been any discussions at board level about PR contracts and therefore would not have been party to them.
“There was absolutely no cronyism at play here.”
She also said she had “never been affiliated” with a political party, adding: “I am not a political animal in independent’s clothing.”
She said if elected President, her priority would be to engage with the Government to plan how best she could be deployed abroad to help attract foreign direct investment to Ireland.
“I want to lead an increased number of trade missions to new and existing markets,” she said.
She also pledged to convene a series of regional conventions for groups that “still don’t have a voice”, such as those with mental health problems, elderly people living in isolation, and women suffering from abuse.
Finally, she said she would set about creating an “open presidency” by urging the Government to bring the Áras under the Freedom of Information Act.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
